The contract extension enables Newport News to complete an additional 343 structural units and purchase the majority of the remaining material for the ship, including items such as valves, controllers, pumps and raw materials. The shipyard has performed work on John F. Kennedy since Jan. 15, 2009, under a construction preparation contract that allows engineering, planning, material procurement and initial manufacturing to begin before the full construction contract is awarded.

"This additional funding helps us maintain our positive momentum with savings initiatives and pre-construction in advance of the construction contract that is expected later this year," said Mike Shawcross, Newport News' vice president, CVN 79 construction. "In addition to increasing the number of structural units under contract, it allows the CVN 79 procurement team to place purchase orders for most of the remaining material for the ship, which helps us meet our efficiency objectives through economic order quantities and consolidated buys. It also ensures that lessons learned, best practices and production efficiencies from building Gerald R. Ford can continue to be implemented at the most optimal time, providing a smooth transition to the second ship of the Ford class."

John F. Kennedy will continue the legacy of highly capable U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier platforms. Ford-class enhancements incorporated into the design include flight deck changes, improved weapons handling systems and a redesigned island, all resulting in increased aircraft sortie-generation rates. Kennedy will also feature new nuclear power plants, increased electrical power-generation capacity, allowance for future technologies, and reduced workload for sailors, translating to a smaller crew size and reduced operating costs for the Navy.

Huntington Ingalls Industries designs, builds and maintains nuclear and non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and provides after-market services for military ships around the globe. For more than a century, HII has built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder at its Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding divisions. Employing more than 38,000 in Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and California, HII also provides a wide variety of products and services to the commercial energy industry and other government customers, including the Department of Energy. For more information about HII, visit:

HII on the web: www.huntingtoningalls.com HII on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HuntingtonIngallsIndustries HII on Twitter: twitter.com/hiindustries Statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements. Factors that may cause such differences include: changes in government and customer priorities and requirements (including government budgetary constraints, shifts in defense spending, and changes in customer short-range and long-range plans); our ability to obtain new contracts, estimate our costs and perform effectively; risks related to our spin-off from Northrop Grumman (including our increased costs and leverage); our ability to realize the expected benefits from consolidation of our Gulf Coast facilities; natural disasters; adverse economic conditions in the United States and globally; and other risk factors discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. There may be other risks and uncertainties that we are unable to predict at this time or that we currently do not expect to have a material adverse effect on our business, and we undertake no obligations to update any forward-looking statements.